Fps Drops With Ati Card
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Join Date: 1970-01-01 Member:
Join Date: 1970-01-01 Member:
in Tech Support
Latley I've noticed that I've been getting really bad fps drops with my radeonX800.
my computer specs are:
amd athalon 64 3400+
windowsXP home
asus K78n motherboard
2x 512mb hyper-x kingston ddr ram
radeonX 800 pro
im pretty sure thats all. ive tried lots of stuff like. i turned developer on and set my fps max to 125 as to get a better bhop, but when its at 125 it can drop to like 40-60 and if i set it to like 99 it drops about the same amout. so it dosent really matter what my max is at it still drops about the same amount...ive tried changing res...dosent work, ive gotten the latest drivers off the ati website. didint fix it...i really don't tknow what to do but i don't recall this happening before, HELP!
my computer specs are:
amd athalon 64 3400+
windowsXP home
asus K78n motherboard
2x 512mb hyper-x kingston ddr ram
radeonX 800 pro
im pretty sure thats all. ive tried lots of stuff like. i turned developer on and set my fps max to 125 as to get a better bhop, but when its at 125 it can drop to like 40-60 and if i set it to like 99 it drops about the same amout. so it dosent really matter what my max is at it still drops about the same amount...ive tried changing res...dosent work, ive gotten the latest drivers off the ati website. didint fix it...i really don't tknow what to do but i don't recall this happening before, HELP!
Comments
maybe you have spyware or adware or something kicking in. on my computer when that happens i get like 1 fps and i it's so hard to control the game and the sound stutters like hell and it lasts like 20 seconds and sometimes the game minimizes and my computer goes to desktop to show a pop-up ad. it so annoying. i got adaware and mcafee antivirus and i disable messenger and it still happens. does your hard disk light flash alot when you notice the fps drop coz that's what happens on mine.
Next, assuming you're using OpenGL, turn on triple-buffering in the drivers. It'll smooth things out a lot. Turn off truform as was previously noted, and make sure you have the latest motherboard drivers, most specifically the AGP driver for your mobo.
Manufacturer drivers = GOOD.
Omega drivers that everyone has = BAD.
If you don't have catalyst drivers installed, I will <a href='http://members.cox.net/benkarcher/temp/3dpro-1.gif' target='_blank'>beat you to death with my joystick.</a> <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
(By the way, I don't use that joystick for NS.)
Wait, you do have Catalysts. That's a step in the right direction. As a side note, how often do you experience these drops? I experience occasionall drops that are actually pretty hard to notice, like when medpacks are spammed in a hectic battlefield (Radeon 9600XT). If you can't notice the drops yourself, as a human being, without an FPS counter, then you shouldn't worry about it.
Manufacturer drivers = GOOD.
Omega drivers that everyone has = BAD. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
What's wrong with Omega drivers? They're the Catalyst drivers with performance optimizations... They run very well for me, and tons of other people, and give me a boost over the standard Catalysts...
Make sure that "ati_npatch" and "ati_subdiv" are set to "0.0" in your config.cfg.
yes, i'm sure "Omega" knows his way around ati's hardware better than the driver programmers working at ati
did you ever stop to think about why they run faster? hint: it has nothing to do with so-called 'optimizations'
yes, i'm sure "Omega" knows his way around ati's hardware better than the driver programmers working at ati
did you ever stop to think about why they run faster? hint: it has nothing to do with so-called 'optimizations' <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, considering that Omega is on the Catalyst Beta team and ATI has said that if you want to use modded drivers, Omega drivers are the recommended ones, I'd say that he's got the right idea.
They run faster because he optimizes settings for maximum performance without sacrificing image quality. Not everything is a conspiracy. The Catalyst team optimizes for benchmarks. He optimizes for games.
Have you forced your refresh rate? If you have, try turning off vsync and setting max_fps to your refresh rate. I heard that if you can't get the proper FPS with vsync on, it drops to half of your refresh rate.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->That's just because ATI cards suck.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You could flash-fry an egg in three seconds flat over your flame.
But:
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Well, considering that Omega is on the Catalyst Beta team and ATI has said that if you want to use modded drivers, Omega drivers are the recommended ones, I'd say that he's got the right idea.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I never knew this. I guess you do learn something new every day. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
ATi cards generally have poor support for Open GL when compared to nVidia.
Half Life is driven best by Open GL.
Alternatively, you could turn off v-sync, as it's a problem with higher end ATi cards with Half Life.
Have you forced your refresh rate? If you have, try turning off vsync and setting max_fps to your refresh rate. I heard that if you can't get the proper FPS with vsync on, it drops to half of your refresh rate. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Refresh rate is at 75, vsync is off, and my max_fps is at 100
What are catalyst drivers? the default drivers for ATI cards?
What is vsync? what does it do? why turn it off ? whats the side effects of turning it off?
what else should i do when i get my notebook to optimize it?
Thnx. Ns community rocks.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Under the OpenGL 'compatability' button (not tab), click the 'triple buffering enabled' radio button. This essentially decouples the video card from the refresh rate, if that's proving to be an incompatability. It'll also MASSIVELY cut down on 'stutters' as the video card no longer has to wait for the rest of the machine, so long as it has data to crunch. Possibly one of the best 'smoothness' performance boosts.
WinXP LOCKS OpenGL applications to ~60hz refresh in many cases. It's an OS bug. Turn VSync to 'Always On'. This could help, especially with triple-buffering turned on.
Set 'ati_npatch 0' AND 'ati_subdiv 0' in Half-Life. Even if the drivers have TruForm forced off, Half-Life can occasionally not see it and still be doing the precalcs.
Fast Writes are definitely something to turn off in the SmartGART tab. AGP 2x+ shows almost no benefit from having it on, and they're a stability problem from time to time, regardless of the type of card you're using.
Make sure you've started Half-Life with the -32bpp command line option. In older versions (unsure about Steam) even with the video card set to 32-bit color, HL would only pass 16-bit color information. Just a visual upgrade, but one that many miss.
Upgrade to the latest Catalysts. The newest (as of this writing) are 4.4, but the 4.5s (with support for the X800 series, and temporal AA) should be out before too much longer. Some have complained about lower framerates with the newest, but I've not seen any difference, after applying the above tweaks.
Correction! I just zipped by the ATi website to double-check, and Catalyst 4.5 is out! Download and apply. Unfortunately, Temporal AA didn't receive its backport just yet. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
and follow talesin's advice from Even~Flow's post. keep in mind mouse sensitivity is affected by refresh rates, so if your refresh rate is no longer locked at 60 you'll notice a difference in sensitivity
Your point? I own a ATI card and it blows compared to my GeForce card.
<!--QuoteBegin-UKchaos+Aug 4 2004, 07:56 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (UKchaos @ Aug 4 2004, 07:56 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->V sync limits framerates on some NVidia cards too, try turning it off if your framerates are locked at 60.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yep.
make sure vsync is off (you dont need that kinda stuff for HL anyway) and your fps should hit up to 100 (esp with the x800).
i've got an nvidia fx5950 ultra, and i stay at a steady 60 with vsnyc onn, and 100 with it off
but i never liked ati... always gave me problems, so
me-->>> <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif' /><!--endemo--> <<<--- my old ati card.
problem solved. <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /><!--endemo-->